CC - Agendas - City Council - WORKSHOP - 10/28/2008

Home

.r A NEED FOR BIG CHINO WATER YEARS AWAY Presentation to Prescott City Council, October 28, 2008 From the Citizens Water Advocacy Group Delivered by Howard Mechanic, Chair of the Public Policy Committee Many people assume we need Big Chino water soon -- both to continue Prescott's growth and to reach Safe Yield. However, it is now clear this assumption is incorrect. In fact, there is a good chance we won't need Big Chino water until 2025 for either Safe Yield or to continue growth. While it would be nice to reach Safe Yield in a few years; that simply isn't going to happen. It is highly unlikely the area will achieve Safe Yield much before 2025, even though we need to develop a plan relatively soon. In addition, with home construction stagnant and Prescott poised to get a new water allocation, it may be quite a while before we will need Big Chino water for new homes. In the last ten years, since the area was declared out of Safe Yield, Prescott's City Councils have allocated 200 acre-feet per year for new development. This amount of water has been enough to satisfy the new demand, and there usually has been some water left unallocated at the end of each year. On August 28, 2008, Prescott had 1840 acre-feet in its alternate water supply portfolio. The 1840 acre-feet provide enough water for nine years' water allocations. Note that of Prescott's existing 1840 acre-feet alternate water supply portfolio 1296 acre-feet would provide enough water to build homes on all remaining non -watered lots within our city limits at existing densities. Prescott recently applied to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) for authority for an additional assured water supply. The applied -for water is in two parts. One part is based on water to be imported from the Big Chino. The other part is for 1672 acre-feet of alternate water based primarily on recharge credits. Prescott's staff and consultants have verified that because of past recharge activity, Prescott is entitled to this quantity of new water. Although ADWR received many objections to Prescott using Big Chino water as an assured water supply, not one objection was received regarding the application for the 1672 acre-feet. This could add another eight years of water allocations, taking Prescott to 2025, with a total possible population of approximately 76,000 (which includes all home sites that have water rights, including the 1998-1999 "Plat Rush" lots). Since there is a good chance that ADWR will rule soon on this application, the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) believes it is in the best interests of our citizens for Prescott to wait for the ruling before rushing ahead with the Big Chino pipeline. Why approve pipeline construction when we might not need the water until 2025?